“Ted Turner” dies at 87

Media mogul and philanthropist Ted Turner has died at 87. Turner, a pioneering figure in television who built a media empire that included CNN, rose from his family’s billboard business to become one of the most influential and controversial figures in U.S. media and entertainment. He bought a failing Atlanta TV station in 1970, transformed it into the nation’s first satellite “superstation,” and launched CNN in 1980, creating the world’s first 24‑hour news network and reshaping global news coverage.

Turner expanded his holdings to include cable networks, movies and sports franchises, acquiring MGM/UA and founding Turner Broadcasting before merging with Time Warner in 1996. He later struggled within the larger corporate structure, eventually losing operational control of the networks he had built. Known for a brash public persona—nicknamed the “Mouth of the South” and “Captain Outrageous”—Turner courted controversy with blunt remarks and high‑profile feuds, yet remained a defining presence in the media.

Beyond broadcasting, Turner became a leading environmentalist, one of the nation’s largest private landowners with roughly 1.9 million acres, and a major philanthropist. He donated $1 billion to the United Nations and supported environmental causes through the Turner Foundation, while building ventures such as Ted’s Montana Grill and maintaining large bison herds on his ranches.

A yachtsman and sports owner, Turner once skippered the America’s Cup winner Courageous and owned the Atlanta Braves and Hawks; he famously managed the Braves for a single game. He co-founded the Nuclear Threat Initiative over concerns about nuclear conflict and launched the Goodwill Games. Turner publicly disclosed a diagnosis of Lewy body dementia in 2018.

Born Robert Edward Turner III in Cincinnati in 1938, he moved South as a child, attended Brown University without graduating, and took control of the family business in his twenties following his father’s death. Forbes estimated his fortune at $2.8 billion. Married three times with five children, Turner combined entrepreneurial audacity, public provocation and sustained philanthropy in a career that left a lasting imprint on global media and civic life. No cause of death was disclosed.